


Beneath the Cherry Blossoms

by Misskiku



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Picnics, Romance, a ton of fluff, and some smooches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 10:22:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14042166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misskiku/pseuds/Misskiku
Summary: Takumi leads Corrin to a secret destination for their picnic, leading Corrin with her eyes closed, and he ends up trying Corrin's cooking for the first time.Originally a request from tumblr.





	Beneath the Cherry Blossoms

Corrin couldn’t help but let a nervous laugh escape as Takumi led her by the hand with her eyes closed. She followed beside him blindly, flexing her free hand that now felt strangely light after Takumi took the picnic basket from her. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze that sent her heart fluttering away.

“Where are we going?” Corrin’s curiosity was getting the better of her as they stepped out into the rays of warm sunlight. She squinted even with her eyes firmly closed. Takumi pulled her along with a teasing tug on her hand, not giving away a single hint of their destination.

“You’ll see.”

The smug lilt to his voice made Corrin smile. He was enjoying this. She breathed a light-hearted laugh in return, loving every second of this despite being unable to see. It surprised her how fully she trusted him, how she didn’t even think twice before taking his hand and closing her eyes. She was excited, eager, to see what he had in store for her. Nervous, too. Nervous and giddy and bubbly inside, but not afraid. Beside Takumi, she felt safe. With her hand securely in his, she felt warm and protected. She felt loved.

Takumi drew Corrin beneath the cool shade and stopped. The air was silent, Corrin craned her neck, turned her head to hear something, anything, that would give her an indication of where they were. She managed to hear birds chirping in the distance and not much else.

“You can open your eyes now,” Takumi said, the smile in his voice evident.

Corrin opened her eyes and blinked through the harsh onslaught of light for a moment before the world came into view. And it was _a view._ The Hoshidan capital spread out beneath them like a blanket of tiny buildings set snuggly between the rolling hills and mountain tops. The bustle of the city was so far away, so distant, from the top of the hill that Takumi had brought her too. Even the castle looked like it was made for dolls. Corrin gasped and turned to face Takumi, only to have her breath taken away.

A huge cherry blossom tree rose up into the sky in full bloom behind him. It was bigger than any she’d seen before, towering high above them and filled completely with gorgeous pink flowers. Corrin was stunned, shocked speechless, and gazed up at the tree in awe. She glanced at Takumi to find him smiling at her. A knowing, adoring smile on his face that told her he’d been waiting for this moment.

“It’s… It’s…” she couldn’t come up with anything to say and motioned wildly at the tree, then at the stunning view. Takumi’s smile brightened. Corrin huffed, frustrated at her own speechlessness. “It’s just… _wow.”_

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Beautiful is an understatement.” Corrin couldn’t settle on one place to look. The cherry blossom tree was gorgeous, the view breathtaking. And Takumi, set against it all, was perfect. Like something out of a dream. “How did you find this place?”

“I’ve always known about it,” Takumi said, shrugging. “Mother used to take us up here sometimes. You can see most of Hoshido from up here.”

“No kidding...” Corrin let her gaze wander, staring out across the land in a daze. “This is amazing.” When she turned back to Takumi, his smile was soft and full of love, of adoration towards her. It sent her heart racing, a warmth flooding her cheeks. He’d been watching her this whole time.

Corrin swallowed and turned her attention elsewhere, hurrying over to Takumi and relieving him of the picnic basket she’d packed. She pulled out the picnic rug and with Takumi’s help they spread it out across the lush grass beneath the tree. Takumi skilfully removed his shoes in a flash before stepping onto the blanket. Things like that, little, simple things, brought Corrin such joy. It was indescribable, how little habits like that made her smile. How the act of removing shoes to step onto a picnic blanket made her heart lighten. She followed Takumi’s lead and took off her shoes before joining him.

Corrin knelt beside the basket and began unloading the food. “I hope it turned out all right,” she mused, mainly to herself. She took out two containers and motioned to one of them. “This is the food I cooked,” she said, dimpling shyly before motioning to the other, “and Jakob made this one.”

Takumi blinked at her. “… _You_ cooked?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Corrin pouted. “I tried really hard to make this.” She wouldn’t mention that she spent most of yesterday trying to make something _reasonably_ edible, even working late into the night with Jakob helping her. He insisted on cooking something himself which Corrin reluctantly accepted. At least then, if her cooking was a complete failure, they’d still have something to eat.

Corrin shook off Takumi’s insinuation and opened the first container. “I wanted to try and make Hoshidan food for today, so…” She shrugged, as if it were no big deal, as if she didn’t work herself to near exhaustion last night, and revealed the contents to Takumi. His eyes widened at the sight of familiar food. Awkwardly shaped onigiri, slightly burnt kara-age, sloppy rolled omelettes and crumbling potato croquettes all neatly placed inside.

Corrin’s heart thundered in her chest as she studied Takumi’s expression and waited for his appraisal, waiting with bated breath and nerves alight in her veins. Her lungs were short of air.

Without a word, Takumi leant over and grabbed one of the onigiri, taking a slow, tentative bite. Corrin’s heart might as well have stopped right then and there. Takumi chewed slowly, eyes off in the distance as he sampled her food, the seconds turning into minutes, into hours.

“Not bad,” Takumi said finally with a nod. A breath of relief washed through Corrin, she almost sighed. “Though the rice is a bit hard.” The smile he gave her was the answer she wanted, it was all she’d wanted to see. It made everything, the hours, the gruelling lessons beneath Jakob’s scrutiny, the exhaustion, completely worth it.

It was worth it to see Takumi smile.

Corrin relaxed after Takumi tried a few of her other dishes and gave her own food a try. As Takumi had said bluntly, the rice was surprisingly hard. The rolled omelettes were barely cooked enough and the kara-age, the fried chicken she’d painstakingly made, had an undeniable taste of charcoal. Despite that, it was a success. Her food was edible, which, though that was a low benchmark, meant that she’d passed.

They ate happily beneath the cherry blossom, drinking the iced barley tea that Jakob had prepared, and relaxed. It was a moment of peace that Corrin had desperately yearned for. A sleepy afternoon spent in the cool of the shade, kissed by a gentle breeze. It was so relaxing that Corrin couldn’t stifle her yawn.

“Sorry,” she apologised quickly, covering the yawn with a hand. “I’m just a bit tired.”

That was an understatement. She was finding it harder and harder to keep her eyes open with every passing minute. The warmth was so serene, it was so tempting to close her eyes and drift asleep.

“Didn’t sleep well last night?” Takumi looked to her with concern. “We don’t have to stay here that long if you’re tired.”

Corrin shook her head. “No, I want to stay.” She shuffled closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. As her eyes drifted shut, Takumi wrapped an arm around her back to hold her close and steady. Something soft pressed to her forehead and a knowing smile spread across Corrin’s face. She didn’t have to have her eyes open to know that Takumi had pressed a kiss to her brow. She opened one eye in order to catch the flush colouring Takumi’s cheeks as the tore his gaze away. It made her laugh, made her heart swell with love, to see Takumi fluster over a cute little gesture of affection like that. She snuggled closer, nuzzling her head into his neck with a sigh, and relaxed.

When Takumi yawned, Corrin opened her eyes. She raised an eyebrow at him as he glanced at her.

“What?” his question was slightly nervous, slightly bashful. It made Corrin curious.

“Didn’t sleep well last night?” Corrin echoed his question from before.

Takumi looked away, the blush still high on his cheeks. “I… had a hard time falling asleep.”

Corrin sat up. “Why? Did something happen?”

“No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I just… I was…” His voice became strangely quiet, barely a whisper. “… nervous about today…”

_Oh._

His honestly made her heart swell, filled to burst with love that she could hardly contain. It was a rush of emotion that spilled from her mouth. “I love you.”

Takumi’s eyes widened, mouth dropping open as his blush doubled in intensity, burning a startling crimson right to his ears. “Wh-What? Why… Why all of a sudden…?” He could barely manage to meet her eyes, his gaze darting away, glancing everywhere but at her.

“I was the same,” she said. “Nervous about today. Worrying about whether it would go well, whether my food turned out okay… I’m just… so happy we’re the same.”

Takumi softened. He leant against her, the arm around her back giving her a gentle squeeze. “So am I… But if you say things like that so suddenly it’s bad for my heart…”

Corrin giggled at his embarrassment, making him scowl in order to fight the blush burning across his cheeks. “I love you,” she said again.

Takumi breathed a heavy, flustered sigh and dropped his head to Corrin’s shoulder. “Don’t you know what those words do to me…?” He mumbled those words into her shoulder, a strangled groan of frustration breathed onto her neck.

“Maybe,” Corrin teased. The more flustered Takumi got, the more confident Corrin became. His embarrassment spurred her on.

Corrin hadn’t expected that her teasing would flick a switch in Takumi and she yelped when the arm around her tugged her backwards and she ended up on her back, staring up at the cherry blossom tree. She hadn’t expected Takumi to lean over her, their noses – _their lips_ – only a few inches apart. Her breath caught in her lungs at the heat in Takumi’s eyes. Her lips parted with a gasp only to have Takumi capture that sound in a firm kiss.

It was dizzying. The sudden pressure of Takumi’s lips against hers, heavy with desire and desperation and want. He cupped her cheeks with his hands, the gentle sweep of his thumbs beneath her eyes seeming so far away from his unyielding kiss. She couldn’t focus, couldn’t think about anything else but this moment and the feel, the warmth, of Takumi’s lips. He directed her in a heated dance of their lips that she struggled to follow, to keep up with as he nibbled on her lower lip with his teeth, teasing and tugging and soothing the spot with his tongue in a slow, sensual stroke.

Her mind was spinning but she desperately clung on to the moment, winding her fingers into Takumi’s shirt for purchase, to ground herself as she met his lips again and again with fervour. She reciprocated and followed his tongue with her own, gentle testing the waters with a flick of her tongue and then diving in completely and meeting his tongue fully, completely, between their heated mouths. Corrin’s eager reciprocation made Takumi moan deep in his throat and he pulled away just enough that their breaths mingled, hot and heavy and fast. The air between them was thick. Takumi’s eyes were glazed over, filled with a deeper, unmet desire. He leant down and pressed a single, slow kiss to Corrin’s lips. Slow and gentle, before pulling away and lying down next to her.

“What… what was that all about…?” Corrin asked, barely able to form the words through the heaving of her chest. She rolled onto her side to face him and Takumi forced his eyes away. The brilliant scarlet on his cheeks had spread up to the tips of his hears and down his neck.

“Payback,” Takumi grumbled. He still wasn’t looking at her.

Corrin laughed, breathless and light-headed. “Maybe I should tease you more often then.”

Takumi made a strangled noise in his throat and pulled Corrin into his arms. “Don’t you dare.”

It didn’t stop her laughing. She rumbled against Takumi’s chest with each beat of her laughter. “Why not?”

A moment passed where Takumi didn’t answer before he finally said, “…don’t ask me that…” The quaver of his voice, how he struggled to say those words, told Corrin enough. She smiled to herself and softened in Takumi’s arms.

She’d just have to tease him some other time and find out for herself.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaaaaaaaah this was so much fun to write.


End file.
